Food masher

ABSTRACT

A food masher includes a support frame having an opening, a hopper having a perforated floor, received detachably by the support frame within the opening, a handle extending from the support frame, a lever extending pivotally from the support frame, and a plunger attached to the lever and extending into the hopper.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

-   -   More particularly, although not exclusively, the invention        relates to a handheld device which can be used to mash        vegetables such as potatoes, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and        butternuts.

It is known to provide handheld vegetable mashers comprising acup-shaped receptacle having a perforated floor and a lever-activatedplunger for pushing the soft vegetables against the floor to forceextrusion of pulped vegetable material through the perforations.

Such devices are limited to having perforations of a fixed size whichmay not be suitable for a wide range of vegetables, and are difficult toclean thoroughly.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to overcome or substantiallyameliorate the above disadvantages and/or more generally to provide animproved food masher.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention, there is provided a food masher comprising:

a support frame having an opening;

a hopper having a perforated floor, received detachably by the supportframe within the opening;

a handle extending from the support frame;

a lever extending pivotally from the support frame; and

a plunger attached to the lever and extending into the hopper.

Preferably, the support frame comprises a slot at the opening and thehopper has an external tab received by the slot.

More preferably, the slot is L-shaped so as to cooperate with the tab inbayonet fashion as the hopper is inserted into the support frame.

It is preferred that the food masher further comprises a lockingmechanism upon the support frame which prevents rotation of the hopperwithin the opening.

Preferably, the locking mechanism comprises a sliding latch and a springbiasing the latch into the opening for engagement with the hopper, andan activation button extending from the latch through an opening of thehandle.

In a specific construction, the hopper comprises a wall to which thefloor is threadedly attached.

Preferably, the wall comprises external thread, and further comprising aretaining ring having internal thread engaging the external thread.

More preferably, the retaining ring comprises an internal flange thatbears upon the perforated floor to retain the perforated floor againstthe wall.

It is preferred that the plunger is attached pivotally to the lever.

In a specific construction that the food masher further comprises a legextending from the support frame diametrically opposite the handle, sothat both the leg and handle can be placed upon an opening of thecooking hopper to support the masher thereon.

Preferably, the leg comprises a lip and a spring-loaded tongue bearingtoward the lip so that the tongue and lip clamp to the cooking hopperalongside its opening.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The invention will now be more particularly described, by way of exampleonly, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a handheld food masher in accordancewith the invention;

FIG. 2 is a parts-exploded perspective view of the food masher of FIG.1;

FIG. 3 is a parts-exploded perspective view of a hopper of the masher ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional perspective view of the hopper of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional perspective view of a support frame and ahopper wall of the masher of FIG. 1, in an unlocked configuration;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional perspective view of the support frame andthe hopper wall of FIG. 5, in a locked configuration;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the masher of FIG. 1 in an openconfiguration;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional, parts-exploded perspective view of thesupport frame and the hopper of the masher of FIG. 7, showing itslocking mechanism;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional perspective view of the support frame andthe hopper of FIG. 8, showing its locking mechanism;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the support frame and the hopper walldetached of FIG. 5, showing bayonet connection features;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 10, showing the hopperwall attached to the support frame of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 12 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 11, showing a subsequentstep in the sequence of bayonet into connection between the supportframe and the hopper wall of FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a vegetable masher 10 whichwould typically comprise metal and/or moulded plastics parts. The masher10 includes a support frame 11 having a handle 12 extending therefrom.Attached pivotally to the support frame 11 is a lever 13 to which aplunger 14 is pivotally attached.

The support frame 11 comprises a circular opening 9 into which a hopper26 is received. The hopper 26 has a cylindrical hopper wall 56, fromwhich a pair of diametrically opposed tabs 16 extend. The opposed tabs16 are received by L-shaped slots 15 inside the opening 9 at the frame11.

The hopper 26 has external thread 36 at the bottom of its wall 56 towhich there is engaged a retaining ring 17 having internal thread 38 andan annular flange 18 that retains a perforated floor 19 against thebottom of the wall 56.

Opposite the handle 12, there is provided a support leg 29, whichtogether with the handle 12 serves to support the masher 10 upon anupper rim of a cooking hopper or bowl for example. The leg 29 comprisesa lip 20 at its distal end. Within the leg 29, there is provided atongue 21 that is forced toward the lip 20 by a spring 25. The tongue 21and lip 20 act as the clamp by which the leg 29 can be attached securelyto the upper rim of the cooking hopper or bowl.

As can be seen from the figures, the L-shaped nature of the slots 15allows for bayonet-type inter-engagement of the hopper 26 with thesupport frame 11.

A locking mechanism 46 is employed to prevent the hopper 26 from beinginadvertently rotated and thereby removed from the support frame 11. Thelocking mechanism 46 comprises a sliding latch 22 that is mounted withinthe handle 12 to slide diametrically. The latch 22 is spring-biased by acoil spring 24 toward the hopper 26. The latch 22 is retained inposition by a retaining plate 28 that is screw-fixed to the handle 12. Apushbutton 23 extends upwardly from the latch 22 through an aperture 27.The aperture 27 is sized to enable sliding movement of the pushbutton 23together with the latch 22 in a direction away from the hopper 26 forunlocking purposes.

In the locked position, the latch 22 prevents movement of the tab 16 asshown in FIG. 6.

In use, the perforated floor 19 is attached to the bottom of the hopper26 using the retaining ring 17 and soft vegetable (or other food)material is inserted into the hopper 26. The hopper 26 is thenbayonet-fixed within the support frame 11 so that the plunger 14 can beinserted into the hopper 26 and depressed upon activation of lever 13toward handle 12. During bayonet-fixing, the latch 22 clicks past thetab 16. The masher 10 can be clamped upon the cooking hopper or bowl bysimply pressing the tongue 21 against its upper rim so that the lip 20clicks over the upper rim after which the spring 25 presses the tongue21 toward the lip 20 to clamp the masher 10 in place.

After use, the pushbutton 23 is pulled back by thumb-force away from thehopper 26 so that the latch 22 clears the path for tab 16 to enablerotation of the hopper 26 for lifting out of the support frame 11.

It should be appreciated that modifications and alterations obvious tothose skilled in the art are not to be considered as beyond the scope ofthe present invention. For example, rather than the L-shaped bayonetslots 15, the hopper 26 might simply slot downwardly into vertical slots15 in the locking mechanism 46 might comprise a latch 22 that extendsinto a recess upon the outer surface of being hopper 26.

1. A food masher, comprising: a support frame having an opening; ahopper having a perforated floor, received detachably by the supportframe within the opening; a handle extending from the support frame; alever extending pivotally from the support frame; and a plunger attachedto the lever and extending into the hopper.
 2. The food masher asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the support frame comprises a slot at theopening and the hopper has an external tab received by the slot.
 3. Thefood masher as claimed in claim 2, wherein the slot is L-shaped tocooperate with the tab in bayonet fashion as the hopper is inserted intothe support frame.
 4. The food masher as claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising a locking mechanism upon the support frame, the lockingmechanism preventing rotation of the hopper within the opening.
 5. Thefood masher as claimed in claim 4, wherein the locking mechanismcomprises a sliding latch and a spring biasing the latch into theopening for engagement with the hopper, and an activation buttonextending from the latch through an opening of the handle.
 6. The foodmasher as claimed in claim 1, wherein the hopper comprises a wall towhich the floor is threadedly attachable.
 7. The food masher as claimedin claim 6, wherein the wall comprises an external thread, and furthercomprising a retaining ring having an internal thread for engaging theexternal thread.
 8. The food masher as claimed in claim 7, wherein theretaining ring comprises an internal flange that bears upon theperforated floor to retain the perforated floor against the wall.
 9. Thefood masher as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plunger is attachedpivotally to the lever.
 10. The food masher as claimed in claim 1,further comprising a leg extending from the support frame diametricallyopposite the handle, so that both the leg and handle can be placed uponan opening of a cooking hopper to support the masher on the cookinghopper.
 11. The food masher as claimed in claim 10, wherein the legcomprises a lip and a spring-loaded tongue bearing toward the lip sothat the tongue and lip clamp to the cooking hopper alongside theopening of the cooking hopper.